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Chapter 34
But that couldn’t be.
There had to be a reason Erin couldn’t reveal the entire truth.
Ferdin’s hand, resting on Erin’s shoulder, trembled faintly. The weight of unbearable truths seemed to press down on him all at once.
* * *
Lillia and Amon were trapped inside the wolf-tribe’s prison.
Lillia stared at the iron bars in front of her with an annoyed expression.
Unlike her, who was completely unharmed, Amon bore many wounds—as though he had resisted fiercely while being dragged here.
His appearance was pitiful, but his eyes still burned with a fierce light. Looking at Lillia, Amon spoke.
“Magic isn’t working at all, huh? The wolf-tribe’s amazing… where did they even get mana-suppressing stones?”
“They’re obsessed with mages, that’s why… But more importantly, I think we caused trouble for Ferdin. What should we do? Do you think we’ll get out of here?”
“That Ferdin guy… he must’ve run away, right?” Amon muttered anxiously.
Count Leon likely wouldn’t be sending reinforcements.
Amon had suspected it from the moment they realized the count wasn’t in wolf-tribe territory at the designated time—Leon despised tardiness.
They hadn’t considered the possibility of being captured by the wolf-tribe, but…
What weighed most heavily on Amon’s mind was Ferdin—the possibility that he might come to rescue them.
Amon desperately hoped he wouldn’t.
If he did, Lillia and Amon could already imagine what end awaited them.
Still, Amon thought it was better that way than causing Ferdin more harm.
Even though they were casual within the Academy, once he graduated, Amon had resolved to serve Ferdin as his lord.
As a knight-to-be, he thought it was better to die by his own hand than bring ruin upon his master. His eyes hardened with resolve.
If the worst came to pass… he would die with honor. That was his oath.
* * *
“Damn it!”
Amon cursed his own helplessness, slamming his fist against the ground.
“Erin Lysers?”
Lillia’s voice, faint and drained of strength, rang out.
Amon jerked his head up at her words.
He was about to shout, asking how Erin could possibly be here, when—he froze.
Because Erin really was there, standing before his eyes.
And she wasn’t alone. Behind her was Ferdin, holding a child Amon had never seen before in his arms.
Amon was dumbfounded.
Why on earth were they here? Had they also been captured by the wolf-tribe?
Then what would happen now? And who was that child?
Images flashed in Amon’s mind—Ferdin taken hostage, the Emperor sneering viciously at the sight.
Even if no one died, the Second Prince’s standing would be utterly ruined.
Lillia seemed to have thought the same, her face pale as snow.
Yet strangely, there were no wolf-tribe warriors escorting Erin and Ferdin.
Amon asked quickly, “Erin… how did you get in here?”
But neither Erin nor Ferdin answered.
Seeing their silence, Amon clung to a hopeful thought—maybe they weren’t captives, but had come to rescue him and Lillia.
But almost immediately, he realized how absurd that hope was and gave a hollow laugh.
This was the wolf-tribe’s prison. On his way in, he had seen how many guards stood watch outside.
It was impossible for them to break through all that and reach here.
Falling into despair, Amon cried out,
“Damn it, just work already! You cursed mana-suppressing stone!”
He shook the bars furiously, but the sturdy metal forged from mana-suppressing stone didn’t budge an inch.
“Why did you even come here, Ferdin? You should’ve run! Don’t you understand? Your life is more important than ours!”
“……”
“And you, Erin—why did you come? How are the two of you supposed to rescue us?”
Amon’s fury boiled over.
It wasn’t just anger at them, but at himself—for being so foolishly captured, for becoming a burden to Ferdin.
As his voice echoed through the cell, Erin finally met his gaze.
In that instant, Amon felt something strange. Her aura shifted dramatically.
As if she had resolved herself, Erin stepped forward to the bars. Then she drew the sword at her hip.
What’s she doing? Lillia stared blankly.
Erin’s sword couldn’t possibly scratch mana-suppressing stone.
Even without sword training, someone from a marquis household would know that much.
Lillia scoffed in disbelief.
“Erin Lysers, that’s mana-suppressing stone. Don’t tell me you don’t know that?”
“……”
“Don’t be stupid! If you try to force it, you’ll only get yourself killed.”
Amon agreed, his face pale.
“She’s right, Erin. Don’t do it. Go outside instead—surrender to the wolf-tribe if you have to.”
He didn’t want her hurt over a rash impulse, even if he understood her feelings.
But before either of them could stop her, Erin swung her sword.
The blade sliced through the bars made of mana-suppressing stone.
They fell apart cleanly—as if they had been cut from the beginning.
The meaning of what they saw slowly dawned on them.
Lillia and Amon’s mouths hung open.
Moments later, Lillia whispered, dazed,
“This is insane…”
Amon rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating.
Ferdin and the child also stared blankly, speechless.
To cut through mana-suppressing stone with a sword—no one could have predicted such a thing.
“How… how is this possible?”
Mana-suppressing stone was an incredibly hard metal.
Only a mage of the 6th Circle or higher, or a Sword Master, could destroy it.
Yet Erin had done it with ease.
Lillia’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
Her mind froze, unable to process it.
She whispered again,
“This… can’t be real…”
Mana-suppressing stone, cut apart so easily.
And Erin Lysers, standing there with a calm face, as if it were nothing.
There was only one conclusion.
Erin Lysers was a Sword Master.
The most glorious height every knight longed for—she had reached it.
Lillia’s nails dug into the dirt.
That murderer… a Sword Master?
The world had many knights who upheld honor, yet not all of them could ascend to that peak.
Even those who devoted their whole lives often failed to reach it.
And she—so young—had attained it already? That was too unfair.
Lillia felt suffocated.
Her entire life, she had lived for the chance to kill Erin Lysers.
Ever since Calyps died, her world had been hell.
The only reason she endured was the discovery of her magical talent.
She resolved to become a Great Mage—strong enough to kill the marquis’s daughter.
But if Erin was a Sword Master, then everything Lillia had lived for was crumbling to dust.
“No… there’s no way… At that age? A Sword Master? Impossible!”
Lillia’s broken cry filled the cell.
Amon gripped her shoulders.
“Lillia…”
She turned her trembling gaze toward Ferdin.
“Ferdin… you knew, didn’t you? You knew Erin Lysers was a Sword Master. That’s why you protected her like that… How could you?”
Her hands shook violently as she glared at Erin with bloodshot eyes.
Memories of endless nights weeping for her brother Calyps surged through her mind.
Those years had been agony.
Not her body, but her heart—shattered, raw, in unbearable pain.
She had yearned for him every night, even knowing he was gone.
When he died… she waited in vain at their old hut, not understanding why her brother never returned.
“Why isn’t brother coming home…? I miss him.”
The truth had reached her only when a maid from the marquis’s household arrived.
The maid—Charlotte—sobbed as she told Lillia that Calyps’s death was all Erin Lysers’s fault.
Then, she handed over a small pouch, saying it was compensation from the marchioness.
The price of Calyps’s life was nothing more than a handful of gold coins.
